Code Geass: My Memories
by Spiritblade
Summary: -ONE SHOT- Kallen tells her children about the two Black Rebellions and the birth of the UFN, and it is a story that ends with a visit to New Pendragon, where they receive the answer to the question they asked so long ago. --COMPLETE - 2nd Draft posted--


_**Code Geass: My memories**_

_**Written by Spiritblade**_

_**Disclaimer: **_Code Geass does not belong to me. And it has been a while since I've written something, so I need to get my creative side running – especially when one wants to swat the after-effects of burnout. But this time, I refuse to bite off more than I can chew. Right, let's get to it. Review me – tell me if I lost my touch. Be warned, though: I fired this from the hip (and can expect a firing squad in return).

This story is also partially inspired by several Code Geass fanfic – all of which are in my favorites. Go ahead, visit them. Give good writers their due. Also, be warned that I have taken some liberties in the crafting of the story; I hope this will be forgiven.

Also, this is the second draft (because I always want to deliver the best).

**(O)**

I remember how it began. I remember how Japan became Area 11. I remember how my mother's people became second-class and third-class citizens in their own homeland, bereft of hope and pride. I watched as those who were conquered struggle to make ends meet under the boot-heel of their conquerors. Never once had the latter failed to remind the former of their status in the grand scheme of things; what was given freely to citizens of Britannia was given grudgingly to those of the Empire's dominions. The Britannian Emperor believed in a harsh code where the weak were nothing more than fodder for the strong; it is, he had proclaimed, the way humanity was made to live. Inequality was not evil, he had thundered, for it demarcated a clear line between the worthy and the unworthy; the strong prevail by devouring the weak, yet they, likewise, can be cast down, ensuring that society – and humanity – prospers by the removal of the unworthy.

_It begins with a single spark._

_A war, where the sanctity of blood _

_Is but an obstacle,_

_In the way of the grandest prize of all._

_The victor stands amidst the bloodied, broken bodies of his adversaries and allies,_

_And raises a fist to the sky._

_He has lost many to betrayal and lie._

'_I will cast you down,' he whispers, 'I will do what the Princess Morningstar could not.'_

Britannia, having seized Japan, now controlled one of the largest reserves of Sakuradite in the entire world, and turned its attention to subjugating countries that would not bend knee to the Imperial throne. Its Knightmare Frames, so instrumental in the swift subjugation of Japan, was unleashed upon the countries of the last two hegemonic superpowers in the world – the European Union and the Chinese Federation – that still had the strength to challenge Britannia. By the time he was in his late fifties, Emperor Charles Zi Britannia, the 98th Emperor of the Empire, the Lion of Britannia, did what his ancestors could not. He brought under the rule of the Empire half of all the nations on Holy Terra.

But, the iron fist of the Britannian Empire could not crush from the hearts of the vanquished the one desire that has seen to Kings challenged and Gods toppled: freedom. Insurgency and rebellion were rife in the Dominions; some were well-armed and organized, others were nothing more than rag-tag guerillas armed with pistols, knives and a burning desire to make Britannia pay for its excesses. The Empire's reply was scorn, bomb and gunfire. It did not draw tracts from the Holy Books as the religious extremists of the past did; it drew from within itself the unbreakable conviction that Britannia deserved the Empire it will build over legacy of its vanquished enemies.

'_Challenge me, fools, if you dare,'_ the Lords of the Empire spoke, _'and be prepared to receive a judgment befitting the rebels of old.'_

Hundreds perished, but the flame did not die.

I was born scant years before Japan became a Dominion of the Empire. I was there when I watched my mother become a servant in the house of a man she loved, and whom she had given two children to before he was taken from her. I watched as she bore with stoic resignation his marriage to a Britannian noble-woman whose way of honoring her vows was to take men into her bed whenever her husband – my father – was not home. I remembered the day my older brother joined a band of guerillas, and the reasons why he made himself a criminal. He wanted me to live in a Japan that would be kind to all those that called it home. And when he died, I took it upon myself to fulfill his dream. I would see a Japan free of Britannian domination.

I prayed every night that one day the children of Japan would never have to fight the battles I may very well die in. And I prayed that, somehow, in some small way, we would make a difference. I was wrong. No matter how many battles we won, the Britannians always won the war. One does not attempt to kill a mountain lion with a needle. It was a bitter lesson to learn.

_The Lion Emperor of Britannia sired scores of children._

_As he clashed with his kin, he drew women to him._

_Some of these fought by his side, who bled and died._

_Some of those he seduced, with whom he forged alliances with their fathers._

_Others, who allowed themselves to be seduced, in hopes of attaining the prize the Lion would claim._

_But one – one above all others – would capture his heart._

_Wrapped in steel, stone and glory, few women could enter his heart,_

_But none would take it as much as this one woman._

_Not Royalty was she, but Knights of Round._

_Commoner-born, but yet she shone._

_Once Thirty, reduced to Twelve,_

_She stood Third, to he who stood Second._

_Flash of Lightning,_

_She lit the way, and conquered fear and despair._

_Flash of Lightning,_

_Glorious and sublime,_

_The Lion Emperor kneels, for the first time in his life._

_At last, he whispers softly, I've found my bride._

I remembered the day, several years before the invasion of Japan, when the news announced the death of Empress Marianne Zi Britannia, the Imperial Consort to the Emperor Charles. She had been killed in broad daylight, right before the eyes of her horrified children. It made me wonder how in all that was holy did her assassins managed to infiltrate into one of the most heavily guarded places on the planet. Pendragon was not only the capital of the Empire; it was the symbol of Britannia's invincibility. Once, back when Frederick Zi Britannia, the 97th Emperor of Britannia, was still alive, Pendragon had fallen under attack by the armies of the Chinese Federation. In an act of unsurpassed audacity, Emperor Chang Tzu, ruler of the Chinese Federation and Emperor Frederick's rival (and friend), struck straight at the heart of the Britannian Empire. And for two months, the walls of Pendragon held until they were relieved by the Empire's Knights of Rounds and their legions.

Emperor Chang Tzu did not live to see the end of the war – but neither did Emperor Frederick. The deaths of both men saw to their respective kingdoms being torn asunder by factions who wished to assume power. The Royal House of Britannia splintered, and the sons and daughters of the Emperor (and their kin) waged a bitter power struggle that left many dead. The Chinese Federation did not suffer that fate; the Eunuchs, the lieutenants of the departed Emperor, quickly assumed power, using figurehead rulers to legitimize their rule and discarding them when they proved too willful.

Such was the fate of Lelouch and Nunnally vi Britannia, whose only crime was to ask the question no other in the Royal Court would dare ask. When Empress Marianne was murdered, the House of Ashford, who had been her longtime allies (and who raised her from her commoner status), fell from power. But, by exiling the children of his murdered consort to Japan, to be used as pawns in his schemes, Emperor Charles Zi Britannia would birth his Empire's most formidable enemy – one who would devote his life to his homeland's utter ruin.

_Few were the Lion Emperor's equal,_

_And only two of his children had the qualities to take his place._

_One was the White Prince, he who was the Empire's Prime Minister._

_Another was the son he created with the Lightning Countess._

_While a decade and more separated the two,_

_He could sense their potential. _

_But he was not alone in this._

_His brother, the Golden Serpent, Jormungandr, sensed it as well._

_The Serpent could no longer tolerate the Lightning Countess,_

_Though he loved her as much as her brother did as kin,_

_She was an obstacle to both his and his brother's dream._

_The blade in the shadows, the lie that is spoken;_

_The blood spilt decreed a fate that would topple the Empire._

I remembered clearly, even to this day, the defiance displayed by Prime Minister Genbu Kururugi in the face of the Britannian invasion. He would make the Lion Emperor of Britannia pay in blood for the audacity of invading his country and for breaking the treaties that he himself had made only years before. The response of the Lion Emperor was a simple statement full of scorn: _'Japan is already mine, Prime Minister. Surrender or die.'_

Days later, every soul in Japan listened in abject horror as news of Prime Minister Genbu's suicide was broadcasted. The armies of Japan did not stand down. Several divisions chose to meet the Britannian invasion. Many of these were wiped out; those that survived regrouped to later become the Japanese Liberation Front. The only victory in the war was that of General Todou's. It was a victory that, upon the reflection of those that had been there, should not have happened – and yet it did. Despite being outnumbered and outgunned, Todou's division crushed the Britannian forces in a blitzkrieg that had left the Britannian commanders struggling to re-establish battlefield command.

It was a miracle – one that gave the conquered people of my country hope that, one day, their homeland would be free. It made us realize that Britannia was not the invincible titan we believed it to be. Ground under the heel of our conquerors, stripped of our pride, our names and traditions, we waited for another victory on a grander scale than the one at Itsukishima; one that would break the Empire's grip on our country.

But no one in the JLF or in the numerous guerilla groups in Japan had stopped to consider this two important questions: If we managed to break the Empire's grip on Japan, can we defeat the armies the Emperor will inevitably send to crush our rebellion? And can some of the guerilla groups put aside their animosities long enough to work together? I remembered how Ohgi and the rest of our group came to blows with members of another guerilla group from Hokkaido, whose hard-line stance in dealing with Britannians and whose remarks of our aptitude and dedication was more than we could take. Had it not been for the other groups, the fight would have ended up with us doing the Empire's work for them.

That all changed when Zero stepped onto the field. Before his coming, all of us had been content in winning skirmishes. After his advent, we were doing together what none of us could do singly: we were taking our homeland back, one battle at a time.

_To a distant land a fallen prince and princess are sent._

_Tools in the eyes of their father,_

_Bartered so as to give that land a sense of safety;_

_The seed of hatred is sown,_

_And nurtured by one amongst his hosts;_

_The war that comes,_

_Devastates that land, sunders its glory,_

_And the Rising Sun's glory fades,_

_Before the Lion's roar._

_He walks amidst the ruin of a nation,_

_With a friend who would become his foe_

_And his younger, helpless sister who would judge him at the end;_

_He swears this to the second, with hatred to make God shiver and His Enemy to cower,_

'_I will destroy Britannia'_

_The years come and go._

_The Prince and his sister are found by their mother's former allies._

_Amongst the Ashfords they hide,_

_For they know that their mother's enemies,_

_Will show them no mercy;_

_The Prince grows to manhood, his eyes gazing across the oceans at his distant homeland,_

_And he prepares for the Day of Judgment._

A failed mission would bring about a promised meeting, and set in motion an insurrection that would shake Britannia to its very foundations. What I had thought was a container holding poison gas was in truth a prison for a witch whose gifts would bring ruin upon those she bequeathed them upon. It would reunite two friends who had parted close to a decade before under opposing banners. And it would be the day that Clovis le Britannia, Governor of Area 11, would die after suffering a crushing defeat engineered by a foe who shared his blood. With the same mouth that had ordered the deaths of those he considered less than human, he begged mercy from his half-brother who showed him none.

That act would draw in those who were bound to the departed Empress Marianne and her children. Knowing that they were unable to capture the one who murdered an Imperial Prince, the leader of the Purist factions, Jeremiah Gottwald, chose to make an Honorary Britannian a scapegoat – an honorary Britannian who would be rescued by a masked crusader known as Zero. The daring rescue captured the imagination of a people who desperately needed heroes. Britannia had, at first, dismissed the masked crusader as another rebel leader to be crushed.

The Empire sent in one of its most feared generals, the Princess Cornelia Li Britannia. The Witch of Britannia was a fearsome adversary. Her tally of victories was second to none, her skill in battle formidable, and her determination to crush Zero was made all the more implacable by the realization that three members of her family had died in a foreign land. No more, she swore. Her first attempt ended in failure; her second was hampered by the fact that her arch-enemy was the only chance she had to rescue her younger sister who was held captive by the JLF; her third almost ended with her being the prisoner of Zero. For the first time in all her life, Cornelia Li Britannia accepted the fact that she was facing a strategist whose abilities and foresight surpassed her own, and that the Black Knights were not a rag-tag guerilla group armed with assault rifles, missile launchers and a grudge against the Empire. They were a well-armed, well-trained army with one goal: to crush Britannia utterly.

How would the Witch of Britannia have reacted if she had found out that the one she had been fighting against had been someone she loved? What expression would she have made when she realized that the brother she believed to be long dead was the one who was leading a rebellion against his homeland and who had no qualms about murdering his own kin? I know that it would have brought me to my knees. I know it would have taken from me the ability to think and the will to fight. I know that a thousand questions would take shape in my mind, and that I would not be able to answer any of them. And I know that my heart would hurt so much that it would break.

I suppose that was one of the reasons why Lelouch kept his identity secret from all of us in the Black Knights. The only ones who knew were C.C. and the leader of the Six Houses of Kyoto, Kirihara Taizou. And with the wisdom of hindsight, I suppose it was wise decision on his part. Had we and our compatriots realized that our leader was a Prince of Britannia, everything we have accomplished would have fallen apart within days. But, at that point in time, I did not care who he was; all that mattered was that he could do what he promised, and that was to set Japan free. It was a selfish wish; I never cared to look beyond the borders of my homeland. I neither saw nor cared about other countries that suffered under the rule of Britannia.

_A Witch makes a pact with the Black Prince._

_She bequeaths upon him the power to move the world._

_With this, he gathers his army._

_Among the oppressed and the despairing, _

_The forgotten flame of justice re-ignites._

'_Not by force of arms is the writ of justice written,' the Prince thunders,_

'_But by those who has suffered injustice and wishes to see it not visited on another.'_

_Sword and gun is raised to the skies, and a defiant cry,_

_Silenced long ago, is voiced._

'_Lead us! Lead us and free us from our shackles!_

_Make us believe again!'_

_A world watches in awe._

_The embers of rebellion that they believed would have been smothered,_

_Erupts like a conflagration._

_It pits the Phoenix against the Black Prince,_

_For a dream that both cherish._

'_I will change the Empire from within,' the Phoenix says, _

'_For your methods make you no different from the monster you wish to slay.'_

_The Prince sneers,_

'_You presume that you can rise higher than I._

'_Remember who I was, Phoenix, and remember my fate._

'_The Empire you seek to reform is corrupt._

'_It preys on the weak, and devours the helpless;_

'_It espouses a belief that is brutal and harsh,_

'_And desires a world where the weak can only pray that they see another day.'_

_And the Phoenix responds,_

'_You will set the world alight in your desire for vengeance._

'_You will slay those you love for the sake of your ambition._

'_You will sacrifice on the altar the love others have for you._

'_You will turn your back on those who have died for you._

'_I will stop you.'_

_But the Witch who stands behind the Prince replies for him,_

'_Phoenix, you see only your ideals._

_You do not see the truth._

_You, who love the one who loves another, understand not the game that is being played._

_You, who serve your conquerors, think that they will repay you in kind for your loyalty._

_You, who murdered your father, who seek your own death,_

_The only fate that awaits you is a punishment that does not end.'_

_She smiles, then,_

'_Seek to stop him if you can._

_I shield him, yes, but I do not stand alone.'_

It was ironic that Lelouch's most determined enemy came in the form of the friend he most trusted, and the one he could not defeat in the half-sister he loved the most. Had Fate been kinder to Lelouch, Euphemia Li Britannia would have been his bride; she would win him not with the strengths her many siblings possessed, but by changing the rules of the game so that when she won, so would he. Sometimes, I **wish** it had been kinder. I know that a Britannia under Lelouch would be different from the one his father and ancestors had reigned over. I know that, instead of half the world swearing fealty to Britannia, he would have won it all. And then, he would set the gaze of each and every soul in his domain on the skies above, reaching for the stars where a greater Britannian Empire could be built.

But Fate had a reputation for being cruel. After landing a blow that could lay a God low, she chose to twist the knife. Not content in defeating her enemy, she sought to crush him utterly. And what better way to do so than to cause Lelouch to lose control of the very power that gave him dominion over men? And who better to fall prey to it than the girl who wanted nothing more than to end her half-brother's bitter crusade? Lesser men would have been driven mad, but not Lelouch. The Crimson Oubliette – that was what history would call the massacre Princess Euphemia Li Britannia orchestrated – would pale in comparison to the Imperial Jihad. The Oubliette would kill thousands. The Jihad would kill _**tens**_ of thousands, and bring the iron heel of the Demon Emperor down on all those who would not swear loyalty to him.

Even as a horrified world watched, Japan's downtrodden citizens rose up against the Empire. The anger of seven years of oppression and humiliation erupted in a frenzy of bloodletting. We almost won. Had Zero – or Lelouch – held the course, we would have cast Britannia from Japan, and stood ready to repel a second invasion. But, like I said before: Fate loved being cruel. She is nothing if not thorough. I was there when Lelouch's identity was revealed, when I saw the face of someone who I would have least expected to be the leader I loved and revered. I saw Suzaku's face, the pain and disappointment of one who had been betrayed.

And you know what I did? Yes, I did the one thing I would never do again: I ran. And I watched as the First Black Rebellion crumbled. I watched as many of my friends were killed or taken prisoner. I would never know how the duel between Lelouch and Suzaku ended. There is no doubt in my mind that the latter had won, but the question if Suzaku had killed Lelouch would haunt us for months afterwards. But, Britannia paid a high price for its victory: it had lost over eight thousand soldiers trying to quell the rebellion; it had lost General Dalton, one of its finest generals; it had lost both the Princesses Euphemia and Cornelia Li Britannia in the space of a few days. Despite the way it ended, the First Black Rebellion – and those who brought it about – have won for themselves a place in the pages of history.

_The gentle Princess falls,_

_And her final breath brings about the Phoenix's wrath._

_The Black Prince's tears,_

_Writes the words of his ruin; and with the blood of those he murdered,_

_He writes of the retribution that will befall him._

_But the War has only begun._

_Before the Lion Emperor is the Prince brought,_

_Defeated but unbowed;_

'_I will cast you down once more,' the Lion Emperor speaks,_

'_But this time, I will strip you of more than just your title._

'_I will strip you of your memory._

'_My foolish son, you cannot hope to stand before my will._

'_Submit – and I may yet spare you.'_

'_Never,' the Black Prince spits, _

'_I will not rest till I tear you down from the throne you sit,_

_And lay waste to your domain.'_

'_Then let your punishment be carried out,' the Lion speaks,_

'_And let your life be as I make it!'_

_The Phoenix watches his friend's fall,_

_Remembers the scream of despair,_

_And justifies it with the life of the one he loved who had perished by the latter's hand,_

_And of the goal he hopes to accomplish._

_The First Rebellion sets the stage for the Second._

_The Lion of Britannia's ambition,_

_Forces him to use the son he had cast aside once more._

_To draw out the Witch who loves the Black Prince,_

_A trap is set._

It was five months after the end of the First Black Rebellion that our intelligence apparatus managed to find him again. We were elated: our leader was still alive! But that brief moment of joy turned into disappointment – it was clear that he was not the person who led us against Britannia. C.C. had been enraged – the first time I've ever seen her that way – and the curses that spilt from her lips made everyone in earshot cringe. She knew the reason why, but was reluctant to share them. It angered me, back then: what was it that bound C.C. and Lelouch together? It was not the power she gave him. It was something more.

I would find out the answers eventually, but we first had to get Lelouch from the trap Britannia had set for us. We knew that Lelouch's 'brother', Rolo, was a Britannian agent who was tasked to watch his older sibling's every move and to help facilitate the capture of C.C. Playing the role of the weak, clingy brother hid the fact that he was a skilled assassin. He had but one weakness – and one that Lelouch exploited mercilessly in order to further his aims of defeating Britannia. It was because of Rolo that we lost Urabe, one of the four Holy Swords who participated in the mission to retrieve Lelouch. Urabe's death was a devastating blow to the Black Knights, but what we achieved because of his sacrifice was greater.

We had a chance to win the war we lost. And unlike the First Black Rebellion, the Second would sunder Britannia entirely. Lelouch became more calculating, and his stratagems were created with the intention of forcing the Empire to react the way he wanted it to. The first thing he did was to bring the Intelligence Agency that was tasked with watching him under his control. His teacher, Miss Viletta Nu, Ohgi's lover (and later, at the end of the war, his wife), was in charge of the whole operation was paralyzed with shock when she realized how badly the tables had been turned. The second was to make an ally of the Chinese Federation. That alliance did not last long, considering how its High Eunuchs – corrupt to the core – had tried to make a bargain with the Empire in hopes of increasing their already-considerable power and holdings. Why should they honor a bargain with a terrorist like Zero, when Britannia clearly could offer them so much more?

Prince Schneizel Li Britannia, the Empire's Prime Minister and its chief strategist, had attempted to subdue the Black Knights and resolve the animosity the Chinese Federation had for the Empire all in one stroke. He never expected Zero to counter his move by appearing in person in the Forbidden City, nor to take the Chinese Empress – a mere child ten years of age – hostage during her marriage to his older brother, the Crown Prince Odysseus. It was a move calculated to do two things: to incite the millions-strong populace of the Chinese Federation to rise up in arms against the High Eunuchs, and to create a new nation capable of challenging Britannia. It was during this part of the campaign that I was captured by the Empire. Zero swore that he would find me and set me free. Suzaku, Britannia's newly-appointed Knight of Seven, sent me to the Empty Corridor, a maximum-security prison in Japan. There was no way Zero would be able to save her, Suzaku told her. And he showed me what stood between me and any force foolish enough to dare assail the Empty Corridor's walls: gauss cannons capable of destroying any Knightmare Frame with a single shot and flak cannons and SAM-sites capable of unleashing a barrage of fire that could bring down a battleship.

But, even so, I did not doubt Lelouch's promise. He would come for me if it meant bringing the fortress-prison's walls stone by stone and killing every last Britannian soldier in it. For the long days and the longer nights until Nunnally moved me to better accommodations, I had the time to think of how my war against Britannia began, and how those who had given their lives would have been glad to see all that has transpired. I remember how Gino Weinberg, Knight of Three, had asked if I would abandon my Japanese heritage and embrace my Britannian legacy. I think about Lelouch and the reasons why he became Zero. And I remembered the day Lelouch came for me. He smashed the walls of the Empty Corridor asunder in a raid more daring than the one that had freed Todou. It was on that day when I saw the assembled army of the UFN, the Black Army, come to retake one of its member states from the Empire. I remembered seeing the flags of the Black Army fluttering proudly amidst the flames. I remembered the fierce gun-battles that raged in the streets of the Tokyo Settlement, and the sight of scores of amphibious transports and tanks making landfall. I felt the determination of my comrades as they fought to see the dream of the one man who dared to raise his fist against Britannia come to past. On that day, I killed the feared Knight of Ten, the Vampire of Britannia, Luciano Bradley, and cast his bodyguard down from the skies.

But, despite the weeks of preparation and planning, the invasion fell apart, causing both the Black Army and the Imperial forces to withdraw from the field and declare a temporary ceasefire. There were two reasons reason for this: the first had been due to the destruction caused by FLEIA, a strategic weapon created by Nina, my former classmate, at the behest of Prince Schneizel. Suzaku had unleashed the weapon, gouging a hole in the Tokyo Settlement well over twenty kilometers in diameter and slaughtering close to thirty million people in the process. I was chilled and perplexed at the same time: I knew Suzaku well enough to know that his going to that extent would go against the ideals he cherished.

The second reason had been that, in the midst of the battle for Tokyo, Prince Schneizel Li Britannia, Lelouch's older sibling, had utilized urgent diplomatic protocols to request a meeting with the Black Army's command echelon. It was that meeting that saw to the Black Army betraying its leader. The reasons why were as horrifying as they were incredible. While I was aware of Lelouch's power, everyone else in the Black Army was not. Schneizel masterfully used their fear, the confession he managed to acquire from his unwitting young brother, and the Black Army's distruct of their aloof leader, to sunder whatever loyalty they had for him. Learning of the atrocities Lelouch had done had been the straw that broke the camel's back; the revelation that he was – and is – a Prince of Britannia would have achieved the same results, but Schneizel Li Britannia was never one to do things by half-measures.

In one stroke, the White Prince of the Holy Empire of Britannia would lay his younger half-brother low and sow the seeds of the UFN's ruin. But, Schneizel had not counted on his younger brother's determination and his refusal to take things lying down. Denied the army he had created, he would take the throne of the very Empire he had sworn to destroy – and use the power granted to him by C.C. to force the obedience of every member of the Royal Family. Everyone in the Black Army's command echelon – those who knew of Zero's identity – watched in disbelief as he did so. There was no doubt in my mind that our teachers and schoolmates in Ashford Academy were stunned as well. How many of them knew that Lelouch, the easy-going Vice-President of the Student Council, was in fact a Prince? As far as I could tell, only Milly knew. Within a week of his ascension, Lelouch destroyed everything the Empire took generations to build. The nobles were cast from power, the Dominions freed from Britannia's rule (unless they chose to remain under it), and the corporate groups that had been instrumental in ensuring the Empire's continued dominance were crippled.

It was in those actions – among many others – that made everyone in the Black Army's command echelon to realize that their betrayed leader's hatred for his homeland had been genuine. It wasn't long before those loyal to Lelouch's father made their appearance. Led by the Knights of the Rounds, they attempted to cast down the Prince who they viewed as a usurper – and failed miserably. Almost scornfully and within minutes, the newly-elevated Knight of Zero crushed the entire force. An entire world watched slack-jawed as the Empire's champions were butchered, and were dealt a second shock when Lelouch declared that Britannia would join the UFN. There was the chance I had been waiting for. I wanted to speak to him. I wanted to know what I was to him.

Yes, I loved Lelouch. I have so many memories of him – and some of them are worth sharing. One of them was this: Lelouch was a brother who loved his little sister above all things. Every battle he fought, every atrocity he committed, every sacrifice he made, had all been for her – for the world he hoped she could live in without fear of death and despair lurking in every shadow. But, before long, that dream changed. It became one that had me and C.C. in it. There was just one small problem to that picture: neither I nor that arrogant, pizza-woman of a witch could stand the other. Only one of us would win Lelouch's heart, and Hell would freeze over the day either of us gave way to the other – though Kaguya had other ideas regarding that issue. It broke my heart to have to fight him.

You've read about the events that have led to the UFN submitting to the Demon Emperor, haven't you? Or the way the latter brought the entire world beneath his rule? I'll not waste your time telling you things you already know. But, I'll tell you something that you don't…

_The Second War sunders the Holy Empire._

_The Kingdom of the Imperial Dragon falls before the Black Prince,_

_And there, raises his throne and banner._

'_Death to Britannia,' he shouts, 'Death to the Tyrant Emperor!'_

_And ten thousand voices echo his words._

_The Holy Empire reels before this mighty adversary,_

_Never realizing that it is one of their own that lays them low._

_The Lion Emperor has taken the full measure of his son,_

_And it pleases him._

'_Here is a son of mine who is worthy of my throne,_

_But I shall not yield. For I have won that which is mine,_

'_And only through battle shall I give this foolish child of mine his desired victory.'_

_He watches as the latter cripples him._

_The quiet Order his brother leads is destroyed to the last,_

_The purging flames of the Black Prince's vengeance hotter than the sun._

_The Golden Serpent falls, not by the Black Prince's blade,_

_But by his brother's hand. _

_Long ago, the Serpent cut the Lightning Countess down,_

_And spoke a lie that sundered a promise between brothers._

_And now, over a decade later, the Lion avenges his beloved's death,_

_And takes the power and immortality of the brother he admired._

_But, he has underestimated his children._

_In the world they live in, they desire a future that has no place in his plans._

_The Lion Emperor watches in amusement as the White Prince _

_Plays a child's game in an arena where death and despair is the price of defeat._

_Skilled and fair is the White Prince,_

_But there is one weakness to him._

_He is a Prince._

_He has never lost._

_He has never fought a battle where he could lose._

_And therein laid his weakness._

_In a battle aboard the majestic fortress that soars in the skies,_

_The Black Prince humbles his brother,_

_And with his power,_

_Chains him to his will forever after._

_And though long dead,_

_The Lion Emperor chuckles in his grave._

'_My foolish son,_

'_Thou art strong and wise and intelligent,_

'_Many are the lessons you have learnt, and all of them you have mastered._

'_You have everything that can make you a King, and_

'_Mighty are you in many fields but one:_

'_You have never known desperation__.__'_

_And he watches as the Black Prince,_

_His most favored son,_

_Closes his iron fist upon the world,_

_Imposing his will in a fashion_

_That makes his ancestors tremble._

'_All Hail Lelouch!_

'_All Hail Lelouch!_

'_All Hail Lelouch!'_

_And the world changed._

**(O)**

At last, Kallen Kouzuki-Lamperouge stopped before the majestic frieze that dominated the entire wall. Commissioned by Empress Nunnally Vi Britannia scant months after her brother was slain by Zero, it depicted the latter the second in the way she remembered him. Kallen felt her throat tighten; no, it was in the way _**everyone**_ remembered him. Despite being garbed in royal robes of white and gold, the smile on his lips was the one Kallen saw in her dreams, and the warmth in his eyes – captured even in the painting – made her blush like a smitten school-girl all over again.

She smiled, taking note of the women who had tried to win Lelouch's heart. They stood before him, on the steps that led up to a basalt throne, where Lelouch stood before. There, standing to his right, next to him, clad in her crimson flight-suit, a sheathed katana in her right hand, was her younger self, smiling and proud. To Lelouch's left was C.C., clad in the black and gold-lined clothes she had worn during the days of the Black Rebellion. The artist had managed to capture the smug arrogance of the immortal witch, and the sultry fire in her golden eyes. Even though it had been two decades since Kallen last saw her rival, the memory of the latter's voice, mocking her, made the former ace of the Black Army scowl.

'_If you are his Queen, then I am his Bishop. So as you are the one and only piece on Lelouch's side of the board, I am but one of two__.__'_

'_And who is the second Bishop?'_

'_Who else could it be…? That person is…'_

Sumeragi Kaguya: Japan's first Empress in its long, long history, and who is a friend to Empress Tianzi of China, who now sits on the throne her regent, Li Xingke, former supreme commander of the Black Army, sat on. She and Kaguya form the twin pillars of the UFN's – no, Lelouch's – undying dream of a unified Earth. Immortalized onto canvas, clad in the robes of a Japanese shrine maiden, the perky teenager whose wisdom and wit made her a beloved figure in the Black Army was nothing compared to the woman she had grown into.

Before Kaguya, one of them sitting on the stairs leading up to the throne, clad in a white dress, was the familiar face of Kallen's long-dead classmate, Shirley Fenette, a girl whose father had died because of Lelouch's war, and whose memory had been altered by the boy she loved and trusted. Even though she had regained her memory due to Jeremiah's Geass-Canceller, she fell in love with Lelouch all over again. The expression on the face of the painted Shirley was full of peace and contentment, gazing out forever onto the world Lelouch had created. And last, but not least, was the golden-haired, smiling face of Milly Ashford, the feline expression of amusement promising a thousand torments on the poor soul who had once come into her family's keeping.

Kallen took several steps back and regarded the two stone angels before her, both clad in robes and holding swords crossed in a salute to a man who would never walk beneath the skies of the planet he helped unify. The female angel on Kallen's left bore the face of Britannia's current ruler: the beloved younger sister of the Demon Emperor, Nunnally vi Britannia. The one on the left held the lovely, gentle features of the long-dead Euphemia Li Britannia. And between them, beneath the massive crossed swords of gold and shining steel, was a marble slab upon which words of gold were inscribed – words that were the final stanza of the story her children loved.

"Is that you, Kallen…?" a familiar voice called out.

Kallen turned around to see close to a dozen individuals walking towards her. The one who had called out to her had been Ohgi, who were flanked by his son, Naoto (who he had named in honor of Kallen's brother), and his daughter, Chigusa. Her attention soon turned to the three individuals that were quickly making their way towards her.

'_Welcome, my children, to Avalon,' _she whispered.

It amazed the red-haired woman how much her twin daughters resembled her, and how much her son resembled her lover (which caused Cornelia Li Britannia to turn pale the first time she laid eyes on her nephew – and swear when she realized just how much he did!). Her daughters had her red hair and their father's violet eyes, while her son had his father's dark hair and her blue eyes. All three had been born on the same day, seven months after the end of the War. Kallen remembered the day she had fainted in school, and the censorious look the school doctor had given her as she informed the younger girl about her pregnancy. And Kallen knew whose children slept in her body. She had no boyfriends, and the only person she had slept with – and repeatedly, to boot – had died before the eyes of the entire world. Kallen remembered how her mother, upon hearing the news of her pregnancy, had reacted. The latter had been pleased, especially as she knew who it was that had won her daughter's fiery heart.

'_They're beautiful, Kallen…'_ her mother had said when she saw her grandchildren for the first time. And when she said that, the red-haired girl could have sworn she heard Lelouch's voice as well. Kallen chuckled; had Lelouch been alive, he would have fought a losing battle to remain conscious. She could almost imagine the look on Milly's face; she would, for the rest of Lelouch's life, never let him hear the end of it.

"Where have you been, mother?" her son, Yuuki, asked, "We've been looking all over for you. And…"

Her son froze the moment he saw the painting his mother stood before. Likewise, her daughters, who looked worn out searching the entirety of New Pendragon for her, were swallowing a thick lump in their throats. Behind them, Kallen's friends smiled at her. It was time for the commander of the Black Army's Zero Guard to finally tell the final chapter of a story twenty years in the making.

"I came here, Yuuki, Ai, Kokoro," Kallen said, gazing at her children, "to New Pendragon, to tell you the final chapter of the story you so loved when you were children," and swept a hand over the marble slab that rested before the painting, "Read."

As one, the three children of Lelouch Vi Britannia, Demon Emperor, Savior, strode forward and cast their eyes upon the words. They felt tears, buried deep inside, spill forth. The stanza, though short, held a depth of emotion that made their hearts ache…and allowed them to forgive the man who had brought them into the world.

_Yet in silence,_

_Under moon and starlight,_

_The witch and the maiden knight hold their beloved close,_

_They whisper softly in his ear their hopes and dreams,_

_They declare their love for him,_

_And write the destiny of his children in their bodies. _

_Though they would not be born till long after the War's end,_

_They would live in the world their father built,_

_Love under a sky free of tyranny,_

_And watch as their children run, laughing, under the stars._

**Fin.**


End file.
